Hockey coach Kelly Jones gets 8 1/2 years for abusing children

OTTAWA, ON, OCTOBER 27, 2013: Kelly Jones was granted bail in court Monday afternoon after a legthy hearing. The former bantam hockey and baseball coach was first charged in September with sexual assault and now faces more than 30 counts of sexual offences related to 12 alleged victims (Greg Banning/Ottawa Citizen) Assignment 114920.

A victim professed his love for his abuser in court Monday before the disgraced coach and Scout leader was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison for sexually assaulting 11 children between 1971 and 1997.

In an unusual move, victim Robin McMillan read a second victim impact statement before Kelly Jones, 58, was given a prison sentence that amounts to eight years behind bars after he was given credit for time served.

McMillan told court Monday about what he described as a loving relationship with his abuser, which was something he said took a very long time to admit.

“I was only 10 years old but make no mistake I loved him very much. I love him still,” said McMillan, who is one of three victims who had the publication ban on their names removed. “That love was and is very real. I know how hard that is to hear.”

Despite his love for Jones, McMillan said the court proceedings forced him to re-live the “toxic” experiences, some of which he had not yet faced. McMillan also called the abuse he suffered and its aftermath “horrific,” but said he has forgiven Jones.

Before Jones was escorted out of the courtroom, he turned in the prisoner’s box to face McMillan and spoke directly to the victim who sat at the back of the courtroom.

“Thank you,” Jones told the victim. “You’re very brave.”

McMillan was the first victim to come forward in March 2013, sparking a police investigation and charges against Jones that he pleaded guilty to, including two offences that were committed when Jones was 16. Jones admitted there are 15 other children he abused but he will not name them.

Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey said in her lengthy decision that she took into account the fact that Jones spared his victims from testifying by pleading guilty. He also doesn’t have a previous criminal record, the judge said.

However, there were several aggravating factors Perkins-McVey said she weighed in determining the appropriate sentence for Jones.

The abuse had a “profound and disturbing effect” on the 11 victims, the judge said. Some of the victims were left emotionally damaged, alcohol- and drug-dependent, and with an inability to form permanent relationships, court heard.

McMillan was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder from the abuse, struggled through his teenage years and was confused about his sexuality.

Perkins-McVey said Jones’ probation officer reported that the accused scarcely recognized the impact he had on his victims.

“I am confident that if you ever had any doubt about the effect your acts have, sir, that that is clearly known to you now,” Perkins-McVey said.

Jones engaged in “grooming behaviour” by giving his victims beer, showing them pornography and taking them on trips, the judge said.

Jones took up coaching in order to have access to children even after a doctor warned him to stay away from boys, the judge said.

Perkins-McVey said in her decision that some of the victims were let down by the justice system.

McMillan tried to report Jones to police in Brockville. Police there said the allegation had to be reported in Ottawa, but Brockville police didn’t help facilitate the report, Perkins-McVey said.

“I hope today, with new protocols and technology, that such a thing would not happen again,” Perkins-McVey said.

The judge said Jones was in a position of trust when all but one of the sexual assaults occurred, and many of the boys felt compelled to do what he asked because he was their coach.

Jones threatened to kill the parents of Chris Lines, who had refused to do as he was asked, if the boy told his parents about the abuse he endured during a camping trip to Algonquin Park.

Lines’ 35-year-old brother, Brooke Lines, also became a victim. The two brothers often spent time with the man who befriended their mother in order to have access to her two children. The Lines brothers also had the publication ban on their names removed.

Chris Lines, 38, said outside court he doesn’t trust anyone as a result of the abuse and said he may have been a different person if he hadn’t been sexually assaulted.

Lines said he thought the court process would help provide him some relief, but it only added to his anxiety.